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I like this "Testing is the infinite process of comparing the invisible to the ambiguous so as to avoid the unthinkable happening to the anonymous" - James Bach, worth watching the google tech talk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhfVK_ubk8U @24:30 minutes. Really makes you think.

Most of the people who ask me, although they don't work in IT, interact with software on a daily basis. Normally I just ask them if they have found a bug in any websites or software packages they use. I then explain that I help to prevent bugs like that making it into the finished product.

Always a struggle. I think that the best way to do it is to explain a context that is familiar to them. If they use internet banking as most do these days, thats a good subject as most people think they understand it.

It's a hard job trying to explain non-testers (and managers) why we do (or want to do) things like we do, therefore I have switched over and started to draw cartoons about software testing at www.zelger.org

Everyone understands those pictures even if you don't know all the details.